Capsized review – alien exile

Xbox Live Arcade gets an offbeat new arcade adventure that mixes the best of 8-bit and modern gaming, but why has it taken so long to appear on consoles?

We always get upset about how so many older British games have almost been erased from history. While even the most mediocre American or Japanese game can get a retro re-release without any apparent trouble (or demand) the same is almost never true for home-grown titles. We mention this now because Capsized reminds us very much of the classic Exile, and yet we’re willing to believe Canadian developer Alientrap has never even heard of it.

Not that Capsized is a clone, or even very similar beneath the surface comparisons, but the fact that it inspired a comparison speaks very well of the game.

Although we’ve never heard of it until now Capsized was first released on PC just under two years ago. We’re not sure why it’s taken so long to turn up on Xbox Live Arcade, or why it came out last Friday rather than Wednesday, but it’s been a very welcome surprise to find out how good it is.

The game’s premise is simple: your spaceship has been destroyed and you and the rest of the crew have been forced to take to the escape pods, and from there to a nearby jungle planet. Although the artwork in the static cut scenes might be a touch cartoonish for some the jungle world itself feels impressively alien, with a great attention to detail in its gloopy flora and highly aggressive fauna.

The animation is rather stiff but the verdant backdrop hides a multitude of native creatures, all of which are out for your blood. The otherworldly feel, and your precarious situation, adds almost a survival horror feel to your exploration, especially thanks to the ominous-sounding soundtrack.

Such scares are not Capsized’s primary goal, but it’s actually a little hard to define what kind of game it really is. There are certainly elements of a shooter, and despite the solely 2D gameplay one that seems oddly reminiscent of old school first person games, in terms of its variety of weapons and purposefully limited controls – rather than offering true twin stick control you can only manually aim in a small arc in front of you. You do have an auto-lock on the bumper but the way enemies often attack in swarms ensures it’s not quite as helpful as it might sound.

Capsized is also not really a platformer, although you can run and jump with a fair degree of accuracy. Unfortunately the gravity of the planet is fairly low and so you have to learn to use a Super Metroid style grapple beam to attach yourself to the scenery and swing across like a sci-fi Tarzan. The beam can also be used to snag enemies and to move around objects for the game’s many physics-based puzzles.

You also get to play around with a short range jetpack and a ram that’s not only useful for pushing around enemies but also booting you across the landscape, if you learn to wield it properly. It’s a small set of tools but one the game uses perfectly to create a range of very organic feeling puzzles, many involving dragging pieces of debris around to either build up a ramp or gain access to a new area, or to block off or kill particularly troublesome creatures.

On the downside Capsized is quite buggy, and not just in terms of the giant cockroaches trying to gnaw your head off. For a game that’s been out for two years on PC it feels more like a beta version that’s not quite finished. And despite this new console version apparently featuring new content the main campaign is still rather short, although the price does reflect that.

There are some arcade style extra modes though, including Time Attack, Survival, and a Deathmatch option against bots. There’s also a two-player co-op mode, both online and off, although things do tend to get very overwhelming with two of you stumbling through the game world at once.

We enjoyed Capsized best on our own, as a tribute – whether intended or not – to old 8 and 16-bit arcade adventures. Games that managed to mix genre influences with more confidence and style than many of today’s more conservative efforts. It does become a touch repetitive, both visually and in terms of gameplay, before the end but in terms of something interestingly unusual to get you through the summer games drought Capsized is perfectly seaworthy.

In Short: An enjoyably old school arcade adventure that also manages to feel thoroughly modern, with a great mix of action, puzzle-solving, and almost survival horror style exploration.